The Guest lecturer at the 6th SIGMA Public Lecture, Mr
Victor Famuyibo, said unemployment had been a significant contributor to the
dramatic rise in social unrest and crimes in Nigeria.

Famuyibo, who is also the Human Resource Director, Nigeria
Breweries Plc., delivered the lecture on Tuesday in Ibadan, and urged a
collective effort to reduce unemployment.

He spoke on the topic: “The Nigerian Economy, Education and
the Challenges of Job Creation: Thoughts and Experience.”

The guest lecturer, who described unemployment as a critical
economic challenge facing Nigeria, noted that nothing could be achieved
economically if many youths were unemployed.

He said that militancy in the Niger Delta, the Boko Haram
challenge, kidnapping and armed robberies were by-products of the high
unemployment rate in the country.

According to him the social, political and economic
development of a nation is largely determined by the quality and level of its
educated citizenry.

He said that no nation grew when over 70 per cent of its
annual budget was spent on recurrent expenditure and less than 30 per cent on
infrastructure.

The guest lecturer blamed the steady decline in the
performance of the manufacturing sector to the continuous rise in the level of
unemployment.

“Although the economy was said to have recorded a positive
GDP growth of 7.45 per cent in 2011, this did not translate to improved quality
of life for Nigerians.

“It surely did not translate to better operating environment
for businesses,” he said.

Our correspondent reports that the 6th SIGMA public lecture
was organised in memory of Oba Oladele Olashore, of Iloko Ijesha.